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accommodation in instances where there is a government rent subsidy.
• Assembly Bill 2297 (Asm. Wicks) – “Fee in Lieu of Security Deposit” – This bill requires a landlord who offers a tenant the option of paying a fee in lieu of a security deposit to take certain actions, including offering the tenant the option to instead pay a security deposit.
• Assembly Bill 2383 (Asm. Jones-Sawyer) – “Ban the Box in Rental Applications” – This bill makes it a discriminatory housing practice for the owner of a rental housing accommodation to inquire about or require an applicant to disclose a criminal record during the initial application and assessment phase of prospective tenancy (an owner can seek this information afterwards).
• Assembly Bill 2469 (Asm. Wicks) – “Rental Registry” – This bill would create a rental registry to collect information via a state website from landlords including, the address and owners of a rental property, the number and type of rooms in the rental property, and information related to the payments collected and the duration of tenancies. This information may then be disclosed to the public.
• Assembly Bill 2503 (Asm. Garcia) – “Code Clean-Up of Landlord / Tenant to Lessor / Lessee Terminology” - This bill would replace the term “landlord” with the term “lessor or lessor’s agent” and to replace the term “tenant” with “lessee.” We will likely be taking a “Support” position on this bill.
• Assembly Bill 2713 (Asms. Wicks, Bloom, and Grayson) - This bill would revise owner occupy just- cause terminations to include a standard of good faith intent to occupy by the owner or owner’s spouse, domestic partner, children, grandchildren, parents, or grandparents for at least 3 consecutive years. The bill would prohibit an owner from terminating a tenancy if the owner or relative already occupies a unit at the property or if there is a vacancy at the property.
• Senate Bill 897 (Sen. Weickowski) – “ADU Height Limit” - Would increase accessory dwelling unit (ADU) height limits from 1-feet to 25-feet. We will likely be taking a “Support” position on this bill.
• Senate Bill 975 (Sen. Min) – This bill would permit a debtor’s (could be a tenant) right of action against a creditor for coerced debt.
• Senate Bill 948 (Sen. Becker) – “Pooled Transition Reserve Fund” – This bill creates the Pooled Transition Reserve Fund to continuously appropriate money for the purpose of maintaining a pooled transition reserve to mitigate the impacts on tenant rents
from the loss or exhaustion of rental or operating subsidies. We will likely be taking a “Support” position on this bill.
• Senate Bill 1017 (Sen. Eggman) – “Lease Termination: Abuse or Violence” – This bill prohibits a landlord from terminating or failing to renew a tenancy based on an act of abuse or violence against a tenant, a tenant’s immediate family member, or tenant’s household.
• Senate Bill 1133 (Sen. Archuleta) – “Price Gouging: State of Emergency: Specified Housing Exclusion” - The bill would excludes specific categories of housing from price gouging provisions such as any housing that was issued a certificate of occupancy for residential use within the 3 months preceding a proclamation of a state of emergency or within the duration of the proclamation or declaration.
• Senate Bill 1324 (Sen. Durazo) – “Rental Debt” - This bill would define “consumer debt” for purposes of the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, to additionally include rental debt that became past due on or after January 1, 2019, and would make other conforming changes. The Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act prohibits debt collectors from engaging in unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the collection of consumer debts, among other things.
Political Update
The year 2022 promises to be a year with many new legislative faces, as well as several interesting statewide elections. Assemblymember Mike Fong has been elected to the Assembly, replacing the vacancy left by Assembly Member Chau. There will be a runoff between David Campos and Matt Haney in April for the vacant seat left by Assembly Member, David Chiu. The most recent announcement by a legislator that they are not seeking reelection comes from Assembly Member, Adrin Nazarian, who will no longer be running against Assembly Member, Laura Friedman, in what became a reconstituted Assembly district that would have run the existing incumbents against one another.
Rental Assistance Update
Your Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles regularly meets with the California Housing and Community Development Department (HCD). Accordingly, we can share with you the following information that we have learned:
• State Funding Augmentation – Bridge funding is to be provided within the state budget for both the California COVID-19 Rental Relief Program and local rent relief programs.
• The State program application portal is still open. However, applicants are not able to request unpaid rent for months beyond March 2022. Landlords and
52 APRIL 2022 • WWW.AAGLA.ORG